If George Shirakawa Jr. receives community service instead of jail time as punishment for his felony mail fraud, he can thank a judge with whom he’s shared a political relationship for more than a decade.

Just hours after George Shirakawa Jr.'s attorneys filed motions for his political mail fraud trial, the ex-county supervisor reversed course and entered a no contest plea to one count of false personation.

Ex-county supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. attempted to pull strings from jail last year, according to new court filings from his political mail fraud trial. And in what could become a showdown over the use of the Fifth Amendment, the District Attorney's office plans to offer former San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos immunity in exchange for his testimony.

The seams of Nora Campos’ carefully curated public image are unraveling at a garish pace. A year after San Jose Inside first reported that the San Jose assemblywoman had lost control of her office—firing employees at an unprecedented clip, wasting a half-million dollars for constituent services—a new source has come forward with details about the embarrassing state of affairs.

Nora Campos has a history of losing her temper—and staff and money, as a result—but now the assemblymember for San Jose's East Side has a new accomplishment: wrongly accusing fellow Democrats of perpetrating a rigged election.

Over the last year, San Jose Police Chief Larry Esquivel and his command staff have sent emails that suggest indifference for rules on accepting gifts while also routinely disparaging civilian oversight.